Individually identifiable surface acoustic wave sensors, tags and systems

ABSTRACT

A surface-launched acoustic wave sensor tag system for remotely sensing and/or providing identification information using sets of surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor tag devices is characterized by acoustic wave device embodiments that include coding and other diversity techniques to produce groups of sensors that interact minimally, reducing or alleviating code collision problems typical of prior art coded SAW sensors and tags, and specific device embodiments of said coded SAW sensor tags and systems. These sensor/tag devices operate in a system which consists of one or more uniquely identifiable sensor/tag devices and a wireless interrogator. The sensor device incorporates an antenna for receiving incident RF energy and re-radiating the tag identification information and the sensor measured parameter(s). Since there is no power source in or connected to the sensor, it is a passive sensor. The device is wirelessly interrogated by the interrogator.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/586,983, filed Jan. 16, 2012, herein incorporated by reference in itsentirety.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

This invention was made with government support under contractNNX10CD41P awarded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA). The government has certain rights in the invention.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the present invention relate to apparatus, systems,devices, and methods for remotely sensing and/or providingidentification information using sets of surface acoustic wave (SAW)based sensor tag devices and systems incorporating such devices. Inparticular, embodiments of the present invention relate to improvedmethods for implementing coding and other diversity techniques withinSAW sensors and tags to produce sets of individually identifiabledevices that interact minimally, reducing or alleviating code collisionproblems typical of prior art coded SAW sensors and tags, and tospecific embodiments of said coded SAW sensors, tags, sensor tags, andsystems. These sensor/tag devices operate in a system which consists ofone or more uniquely identifiable sensor/tag devices and an interrogatorto wirelessly query the sensor/tag devices and receive and interpret thedevice responses. The sensor device incorporates an antenna forreceiving incident RF energy and re-radiating the tag identificationinformation and the sensor measured parameter(s). Since there is nopower source in or connected to the sensor, it is a passive sensor.

2. Description of Related Art

Acoustic Wave Sensors: Sensors based on surface-launched acoustic wavedevices have been developed since the 1980's for application to physicalmeasurements (temperature, pressure, torque, strain, etc.) and to a widerange of chemical and biological detection problems. The se widelyvarying devices have utilized several operating modes and correspondingwave propagation modes, including the traditional Rayleigh wave (orSurface Acoustic Wave—SAW), the surface transverse wave (STW), thesurface skimming bulk wave (SSBW), the SSBW that has been guided to thesurface via a layer, known as the Love wave, the shear-horizontallypolarized acoustic plate mode (SH-APM), the flexural plate wave (FPW) orLamb wave, the layer guided acoustic plate mode (LG-APM), and thethickness shear mode (TSM) bulk wave (as used in the quartz crystalmicrobalance—QCM), and the layer guided shear horizontal acoustic platemode (LG-SHAPM). A number of different device types have been recognizedusing these diverse wave modes, including resonators, delay lines,differential delay lines, and reflective delay lines (tag or IDdevices). These devices have been operated within a wide range of wiredand wireless interrogation system architectures, which have generallybeen designed specifically to operate with the selected sensor(s). Inmost cases, wireless interrogation has been applied to physical sensors,and not to biological or chemical sensors. These system architecturesinclude pulsed radar-like delay measurement systems, Fourier transformbased measurement systems, and delay line and resonator-based oscillatorsystems. A time-integrating correlator based interrogation system hasalso been introduced by the inventors of the embodiments of the presentinvention. The system architecture has usually been selected based onspecific device characteristics and application requirements, andgenerally involves absolute or differential measurements of sensorfrequency, phase, delay, amplitude, or power spectral density, andchanges in these quantities with exposure to changes in targetparameters, to provide the output sensor measurement. Historically,signal amplitude has only been used as a measurand for devices operatedin a wired mode, due to the variation in response amplitude caused bychanges in distance between the interrogation system and the sensor(s),with the exception of the differential power spectral densitymeasurement approach recently introduced by the inventors of theembodiments of the present invention.

The properties and relative advantages of each acoustic wave mode anddevice type make them suitable for different applications. Rayleigh wavesensors, for instance, involve substrate particle displacements thatinclude a component normal to the substrate surface. When used in aliquid, this component generates a compressional wave in the liquid,causing wave energy to leak into the liquid. This energy leakage resultsin large attenuation of the Rayleigh wave, often referred to as“damping”. This effect makes Rayleigh waves not useful for sensing inthe liquid phase, although they remain very useful for gas phase sensingand measurements of physical parameters such as temperature, pressure,strain, and torque, along with use as hermetically sealed tag wirelessinterface devices for external sensors of various kinds. This energyleakage occurs whenever the wave motion in the substrate involves acomponent of displacement normal to the substrate surface, and the speedof the sound wave in the device is greater than the speed of sound inthe liquid (or in the layer coating the device). Certain wave modes,such as flexural plate waves (FPWs), do involve a normal component ofdisplacement, but have wave velocities lower than the speed of sound inthe liquid. Leakage therefore does not occur, and FPW devices canoperate successfully in liquid environments. Other wave modes that donot involve components of displacement normal to the substrate surfaceare also operable in both gas and liquid phase. These include Lovewaves, STW, SH-APM, and LG-APM, LG-SHAPM.

Rayleigh wave SAW devices coated with polymers, metal oxides, composite,and nanostructured thin films and other chemically sensitive materialshave been used extensively for chemical vapor detection, for evaluationof interfacial properties such as thin film phase changes andmorphology, and for monitoring of the reaction kinetics of chemical andbiological reactions. QCM devices have also been applied tocharacterization of interfacial chemistry in both vapor and liquidenvironments. In the past two decades, there has been significantresearch into the application of STW, APM, FPW, and Love waves to liquidbased biosensing. The improvements that are the subject of theembodiments of the present invention, while exemplified herein by deviceembodiments that typically would be implemented using Rayleigh waves,are general in nature and can alternately be applied to deviceembodiments utilizing any of the aforementioned acoustic wave modes,along with other modes not mentioned, including but not limited to leakywaves and pseudo-SAW.

Due to the sensitivity of surface-launched acoustic wave sensors tochanges in many environmental parameters, it has been customary toutilize some sort of reference signal or signals in the sensors or oneor more reference device in the sensor systems. This has beenaccomplished in various ways. For example, differential delay linedevices have been used to eliminate variations in electronic signalscommon to both delay paths, resulting in sensors that have certainperformance characteristics that are only sensitive to variations intemperature. Similarly, pressure sensors have been developed thatutilize multiple transducer and/or reflector structures with wavepropagation at different orientations on the substrate to provideinformation about temperature simultaneously with information aboutpressure, allowing for the unambiguous determination of both parametersusing a single sensor device. SAW-based chemical vapor sensor systemshave historically utilized multiple chemically selective film coated SAWsensor devices in an array configuration. Chemically selective filmswere chosen for their orthogonality in the chemical domain, or theirability to selectively adsorb or absorb chemical vapors of differingkinds, as well as the vapors of interest. Patterns of vapor responsesdeveloped on the multi sensor arrays could then be characterized usingpattern recognition techniques. Reference sensors that were hermeticallysealed or otherwise protected from exposure to the vapors under testwere generally included in the arrays in order to allow for accuratedetermination of the array response. These arrays were often temperaturecontrolled, either through bulk temperature control of the sensordevices (using under package heating and cooling) or through on-chipheaters incorporated in the sensor devices. These temperature controlelements (including on-chip heaters) could be used to thermally rampsensors and observe the temperature (and thus time) dependent desorptionof adsorbed of vapors, providing an additional metric useful for patternrecognition. Prior biosensor devices have generally been usedindividually or in pairs, where one device serves as a reference devicefor the pair. In most cases where arrays of sensors have been used inbiological and/or chemical sensing, the array has been composed ofmultiple individual distinct sensor devices along with measurementelectronics (one exception being an array chemical/biological sensorintroduced several years ago by the inventors of the embodiments of thepresent invention). Depending on the system configuration, themeasurement electronics may be common (“shared” and used sequentially byall sensors in the array), or multi-channel electronics may be used,allowing the simultaneous (or near-simultaneous) measurement of allarray elements.

Prior SAW based RF ID tags and physical sensors and sensor tags haveutilized various coding methods and other diversity techniques to allowidentification of individual sensors within multisensor networks. Suchsensors have also been accessed primarily via wireless radio frequency(RF) communication techniques. In the past, the ability to incorporateunique sensor identification and the potential wireless operation aspectof these sensors has generally not been exploited for chemical andbiological sensing applications in vapors and liquids, with theexception of work done by the inventors in this area. More detail on therelated art for physical sensors, SAW RFID tags, and SAW sensor tags isprovided below. The embodiments of the current invention relate toimprovements that can be utilized for any of these sensing,identification, and combined sensing and identification applications.

SAW RFID tags: SAW devices have been used as radio frequencyidentification device (RFID) tags since the late 1980's and early1990's. SAW RFID tags are passive responders, wherein an incident RFsignal is captured by an antenna attached to the tag, activates the SAWtag, and is re-transmitted as the reflected (S11) response of the SAWdevice. Traditional single frequency SAW RFID tags consist of apiezoelectric substrate, generally selected to be temperature stable(hence quartz was a common substrate), with a single input/outputtransducer and a set of reflective taps positioned at various delays oneither side of the transducer. The reflective taps are positioned intime “slots” that are separated far enough in time to allow thereflections from any two successive slots to be resolved. The S11response of a traditional SAW RFID tag consists of a sequence of timedomain pulses such that in each successive time slot the existence of apulse is read as a “1” and the absence of a pulse is read as a “0”. Ifthe code is N time slots long, then the number of unique codes is 2^(N).The use of two-sided single acoustic track device configurations allowedthe designer to incorporate more time slots then would be possible witha single-sided layout. In addition to placing constraints on the numberof possible codes for a given device size, the time extent of each timeslot (with guardbands on each side to prevent misidentification of taps)also limits the time extent of each reflecting tap. This limits thenumber of reflecting strips in each tap, which reduces the possiblereflection for each tap. Another factor limits the number of possibletaps as well. Since the taps are located in the same acoustic track, iftaps close to the input/output transducer reflect SAW energy, thatremoves SAW energy from the wave propagating further out in the track,which means that there is less to be received and reflected from thetaps farther out from the transducer. The result is that the signalsreflected from sequential taps are of decreasing strength. This effectcan be compensated for somewhat by increasing the number of electrodesin the taps that are further from the transducer, but this can introducesignificant intertap reflection problems. Intertap reflections occurwhen the SAW reflected by one tap reflects off of a tap closer to thetransducer and propagates once again away from the transducer, only tobe reflected from taps further away in the SAW path. In order to avoidintertap reflection problems and allow the SAW energy to propagate andbe reflected by multiple taps, it is necessary to keep the totalreflectivity of each tap low. Low tap reflectivity, however, results inhigh reflection loss. The time domain response of typical SAW RFID tagsat 2.45 GHz are generally 55 dB or more with approximately 32 taps [a,b] and can exceed 70 dB for devices with many more tap positions. Thesmaller the number of reflective taps needed to effect the desirednumber of codes, the lower the possible insertion loss and vice-versa.Chirped input transducers have been used, in combination with chirpedsignals, to produce tags with lower loss.

In addition to simple on-off coding involving tap positions, a number ofother coding techniques have been applied to SAW RFID tags. Phase shiftkeying has resulted in a higher signal to noise ratio than simple on-offcoding, while advanced techniques such as overlapped pulse positionmodulation combined with phase offsets and multiple pulses per grouphave been shown to enable larger codesets with adequate signal levels.All such methods involve binary codes, with SAW electrode weightings of+1 and 0 (taps or reflectors are present or not present at each timeincrement of interest).

Another method used to avoid intertap reflections and achieve largercodesets is to design devices with multiple parallel acoustic tracks.Input transducers can be connected electrically in series or parallel,with each transducer having a two-sided acoustic track. This reduces thenumber of reflective taps in each track and allows the designer to usemore reflective electrodes in each tap without concern for intertapreflections. However, these techniques also suffer from power divisionlosses in the transducers, and hence cannot substantially reduceinsertion loss.

All of the previously discussed SAW RFID tag approaches can be groupedtogether as reflective delay line techniques. Another type of well-knownSAW RFID tag uses a resonator approach instead. This type of deviceconsists of multiple SAW resonators that are connected in parallel viamatching networks to a common antenna. These very narrowband resonatorsare designed to be separate in frequency, with guard bands sufficient toensure that the frequencies at which the different resonators respondwill not overlap over the operating range of the device. Presence orabsence of a response at each frequency constitutes a “1” or a “0” inthe corresponding (binary) code position. Sensing (for exampletemperature) can be incorporated in the device by including one or moreresonators built on substrates with different characteristics (such asTCD), and monitoring the change in resonance frequency for thisresonator measured differentially relative to another referenceresonator in the response.

Any of the known SAW RFID tag approaches can be implemented on SAWsubstrates with properties appropriate for use as sensors. Temperaturesensors have been demonstrated, and other sensors are possible usingsimilar techniques. Frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW)interrogation system have been used commercially for temperature sensorson 128 lithium niobate (as in the commercially available module fromBaumer-Ident) with total bandwidths of 40 MHz at 2.45 GHz, and pulseposition modulation coding enabling 10⁴ codes. In this system, a roughmeasurement of temperature is obtained by evaluating gross delay, and afiner temperature measurement is obtained by using the gross measurementto eliminate the phase ambiguity of 2π and subsequently utilizing phaseto calculate temperature with a resolution of ±2° C. This approach wasextended by Kuypers to achieve accuracies of approximately ±0.1° C. Awide range of additional work has been done in the area of passivewireless SAW sensor/tag devices.

Passive wireless coded SAW sensors: Wireless sensors for physicalproperties, such as temperature, have been known for about 20 years. Inthe 1990's, SAW engineers began developing means to use sets of severalSAW devices together in wireless systems, with the goal of being able toidentify each individual device. In 1999, Alfred Pohl and Leo Reindlpublished a paper entitled “New Passive Sensors” that discussed, inpart, various means for providing individually identifiable devices.Code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access(TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), and hybrid schemescombining two of these at a time (TCDMA, TFDMA, FCDMA) are mentioned.This paper specifically states that CDMA is not applied for radiosensors due to the near/far effect, and hybrid schemes liketime/frequency division are also not applied for radio sensors as well.This work also suggests use of a nonlinear device to generate harmoniccontent, as a means of attaining additional frequency diversity.

Previously described FDMA passive wireless SAW sensors generallyutilized the frequency of a resonator as a measurand, while TDMA sensorsused the time delay of a delay line or compressed signal response as theparameter for indicating a measured quantity. Multiple sensors could beused in a single wireless system, provided the techniques of frequencydiversity or time diversity were used, i.e. multiple resonators atdifferent frequencies or multiple delay lines with different delays ordifferent differential delays were used. In such systems, it wasnecessary to design these devices with enough frequency separation orenough time separation that the responses of individual sensors wouldnot overlap even when they experience variations in the sensedparameter(s). This necessarily limited the number of potential sensorsdramatically, as both time delay and bandwidth are limited.

In recent years, the inventors have been working with Dr. Donald C.Malocha at the University of Central Florida on development of anothertype of coded SAW sensor. Initially envisioned as an OrthogonalFrequency Coded (OFC) SAW sensor, these devices would operate passively,responding to an RF interrogation signal with a reflected signalcontaining the ID code of the sensor and the measurement of the sensedparameter. Original OFC devices utilized a wideband input/outputtransducer, and frequency coded reflective arrays in a differentialdelay line configuration to provide both sensing capability and a uniqueID code. The inventors have developed various different embodiments inthe past few years, incorporating time diversity and frequency coding,and modifying the requirements for utilization of strictlymathematically orthogonal frequency bands. All of these devices benefitfrom the use of spread spectrum techniques, whereby a wide frequencyband is utilized to interrogate the sensor, and correlation of thesensor response is used to extract both the sensor ID and the measureddata with additional processing gain providing higher accuracy of delaymeasurement than would be achievable through single frequencyapproaches.

In addition to these approaches, Reindl and Benes both demonstrated thatthe use of chirp-radar-like techniques in SAW sensors can enhance devicesensitivity. Reindl utilized a two-tap delay line with a widebandtransducer feeding two chirped reflectors, where the reflectors hadopposite chirp sense. Compression of the sensor response in theinterrogator and evaluating the difference between the upchirp and thedownchirp response provided an increase in sensitivity by a factor of 10to 100. Benes stated that compression of spread spectrum signals in SAWmatched filters (as used in radar systems) can be used to discriminatebetween different sensors operating in the same frequency band (i.e. tocode the sensors), and that using chirp interrogation signals (oftraditional SAW RFID devices) with time inverse SAW matched filters inthe receiver can increase the effective delay of the SAW sensor andenhance measurement resolution (0.1 mK for temperature is cited forlithium niobate sensors). Ostermayer also discussed CDMA codingtechniques for multiple sensor systems using SAW devices.

SAW sensor-tag wireless interface devices: Another application for SAWdevices is to function as a wireless interface to other passive sensors.Brocato demonstrated that a SAW differential delay line could be used,with a sensor that changes impedance with measured quantity attachedelectrically in parallel with a reflector in one of the paths, tomeasure variations in the attached sensor. Several other researchershave also demonstrated similar devices. In one case, operation of aswitch was demonstrated. In this example, the devices exhibited asignificant amount of self-resonance, and what was observed and measuredwas the amplitude of the reflective response as it rings down. Ringingin the electronic circuit and the direct RF reflection complicates theinterpretation of the response signal in. Reading of the reflectedsignal is not possible until the direct reflections have died out.

DSSS SAW sensor: Direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) codes such asBarker codes are widely used in communication systems. These specificbinary phase shift keyed (BPSK) codes are well known to have optimalautocorrelation properties. In 1997, Ostermayer, Pohl, Reindl, andSeifert published the use of 13-bit Barker codes in SAW reflectivecorrelation-based sensors. In this scenario, all sensors in a group havethe same code (the Barker code), and the distinction between sensors isprovided by using different time delays (time diversity). When a signalthat is the time reverse of the impulse response of the sensor is usedas an interrogation signal, the sensor responds with a pulse that isnarrow in time, and is the correlation of the sensor response andsignal. Each sensor responds with a narrow time pulse positioned in adistinct time slot. The uniform, low time sidelobes of the Barkerfunction autocorrelation response make its use in time diverse systemspossible, as the response from sensors with different delays willintroduce only low levels of cross correlation interference with theautocorrelation peaks of interest at any given delay.

More recently, researchers at the University of Maine have utilizeddifferent binary DSSS codes (not Barker codes) to produce a set of 6sensors for use in a wireless system. This system sends out a codedsignal matching one of the sensors. This signal correlates with thesensor of interest, producing an autocorrelation response, while itinteracts with other sensors to produce cross-correlation responses. Thecombined response of all sensors within the field of view of the readerwill be returned to the system. Signals interpreted as individual sensorresponses (produced when a specific coded signal is sent out to activatea selected sensor) will be influenced by any contributions ofcross-correlation between the codes. All of the DSSS coding methodsdescribed in prior art utilize binary codes, which consist of +1 and −1values arranged sequentially according to the selected code. These areeasily implemented in SAW devices by using overlapping electrodes ofequal lengths, connected to busbars of opposite polarity, with changesin polarity of bits (from + to − or vice versa) generated by flippingthe connections of the electrodes from on busbar to the other.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A problem with current passive wireless coded SAW sensors andsensor-tags is the limited number of sensor codes that will operatesimultaneously due to code collision interactions. Frequency diversity,which generally utilizes narrowband responses such as resonators, canproduce devices that are truly independent with almost no interference.This approach has been used to produce up to 6 resonant sensors, butproduction of larger sets within commercially useful spectral bandwidthsis precluded by bandwidth limitations and the need for guard-banding.Time diversity can only produce completely non-interacting devices ifthe time offset between sensors is large, although a single code withgood auto-correlation properties (such as a 13-bit Barker code) has beenused with time diversity with shorter time slots to produce sets ofroughly equivalent size with only moderate interference between devices.Code diversity alone (OFC and related techniques or DSSS) has producedsets of 4 to 6 sensors. The inventors have used a combination of codediversity and time diversity to produce a set of 16 sensors that operatesimultaneously in the field of view of a wireless sensor system.Reflective tapped delay line SAW RFID tags and sensors can produce verylarge sets of codes, but in practice only a couple of devices canoperate within the field of view of a reader and be read successfully.All of the coded correlation-based systems in prior art suffer fromdifficulty related to the interference between sensor responses due tocode cross correlations. The DSSS system is one good example. When aDSSS signal is transmitted, it interacts with all sensors in the fieldof view of the reader, and all the sensors reflect back responsesignals. The response signal from the sensor of interest is based on theautocorrelation of the DSSS code transmitted, while the response signalsfrom the other sensors are based on the cross-correlations of the DSSScode transmitted with the codes of the other sensors. In a system withideal codes that do not interact (or are perfectly orthogonal), thecross-correlation responses would not produce code interferenceproblems. However, in the systems developed to date, the codes used havenot been ideal, because sets of DSSS codes that have exactly zerocross-correlation between codes for all relative time alignments simplydo not exist. Any cross-correlation interactions mean that one DSSS codetransmitted will produce not only the desired sensor response, but willalso induce non-zero responses from all the other sensors. The size ofthis interfering response will depend on which sensors are present inthe group, how large the cross correlation of the transmitted signal iswith each sensor code, and due to near/far signal attenuation, thelocation of each sensor relative to the transceiver. The interferencesignal will make the response of the desired sensor look larger orsmaller than it really is, depending on whether the interference signalis in or out of phase with the desired signal, an effect that will varyin significance for different transceiver system architectures. Thismakes interpreting the reflected device responses and calibrating thesensor system difficult, and dependent on the precise sensor groupchoice and sensor spatial distribution. These limitations apply not justto prior art DSSS wireless sensor systems, but to reflective tappeddelay line devices, OFC, and other systems that utilize code diversityin any form, since truly ideal, perfectly non-interacting codes cannotbe realized using any of the techniques known to date. Embodiments ofthe present invention address these issues.

Still other aspects, features and advantages of the present inventionare readily apparent from the following detailed description, simply byillustrating a number of exemplary embodiments and implementations,including the best mode contemplated for carrying out the presentinvention. The present invention also is capable of other and differentembodiments, and its several details can be modified in variousrespects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the presentinvention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions are to be regardedas illustrative in nature, and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will be understood more fully from the detaileddescription given below and from the accompanying figures and drawingsof various embodiments of the invention, which, however, should not betaken to limit the invention to the specific embodiments, but are forexplanation and understanding only.

FIG. 1 shows the magnitude of the autocorrelation response of an ideal13-bit Barker code.

FIG. 2 (a) is an idealized autocorrelation response for the SAWimplementation of a 13-bit Barker code, when the output transducer doesnot significantly band-limit the Barker code spectrum. FIG. 2( b) showsa SAW implementation of the same code where the output transducer doesband-limit the Barker code, severely degrading code correlationproperties.

FIG. 3 shows the simulated correlation performance of a set of 100 timeand frequency diverse Barker coded SAW sensors. The light central peakis the autocorrelation of one sensor, while the 9 black peaks are thecross correlation of the selected sensor with the other 99 in the set.

FIG. 4 shows the cross correlation performance of a set of three 31-bitbinary DSSS “Gold” codes.

FIG. 5 shows the cross correlation performance of a set of three 28-bitbinary DSSS codes designed according to the present invention to havezero cross correlation at the center of the response.

FIG. 6( a) shows a 3-dimensional view of the center 9 bits of the crosscorrelation responses of a set of 4700, 13-bit amplitude weighted spreadspectrum codes. FIG. 6( b) shows a 2-D view of a subset of the data inFIG. 6( a). Note that all cross correlations remain below a value of0.2*13=2.6 over a 9 bit range; selected pairs are significantly lower.

FIG. 7 shows the auto and cross correlations of the SAW implementationof two weighted spread spectrum codes designed to have zero crosscorrelations over an extended range around the response center.

FIG. 8 shows the cross correlation of a set of four 5-bit codes designedto have zero cross correlation at the response center.

FIG. 9 shows the cross correlation performance of the set of four codesconstructed when the codes shown in FIG. 8 were used to fractal into a5-bit Barker code.

FIG. 10 shows the cross correlation performance of the set of four codesconstructed when a 5-bit Barker code was used to fractal into the codesshown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 11 shows the auto and cross correlation performance of a set offour codes formed by using a 5-bit Barker code as a primary code and anamplitude weighted set of four 5-bit codes that has been refined toproduce zero cross correlation over a small region near the center ofthe response.

FIG. 12 shows the autocorrelation of one 125-bit code and the crosscorrelation between that code and three others, when all four codes wereproduced by fractal repeating (in a weighted fashion) a 5-bit Barkercode (primary) into the four 25-bit codes corresponding to thecorrelation performance shown in FIG. 11. This set of codes has zerocross correlation over a 50-bit wide range around the center.

FIG. 13 shows the cross correlation of two 20-bit codes, produced byfractal code composition, that have zero cross correlation over thecenter 17 bits of the 39-bit long cross correlation response.

FIG. 14 shows one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the DSSScoded transducer has been implemented in three acoustic tracks, withmatching segments in the output transducer.

FIG. 15 shows a generalized device embodiment where the transducers havebeen implemented in multiple acoustic tracks.

FIG. 16 shows a slanted transducer implementation of the DSSS codedtransducer, wherein each bit of the code is in a separate acoustictrack. A single, wide acoustic track transducer is shown as an outputtransducer by way of example. Two different surface treatments areillustrated in the top two acoustic tracks, which can be used toimplement different sensing functions.

FIG. 17 illustrates schematically an amplitude weighted spread spectrumcoded device.

FIG. 18 illustrates schematically a set of spread spectrum coded devicesutilizing time diversity.

FIG. 19 illustrates schematically a set of spread spectrum coded devicesutilizing frequency diversity.

FIG. 20 illustrates schematically a set of spread spectrum coded devicesutilizing both time and frequency diversity.

FIG. 21 illustrates schematically a set of spread spectrum coded devicesutilizing code diversity, time diversity, and frequency diversity.

FIG. 22 shows a differential delay line reflective temperature sensorutilizing yet another diversity technique that can be incorporated withtime diversity and frequency diversity, specifically chirp slopediversity, with reflective multistrip coupler reflectors.

FIG. 23 shows a differential delay line reflective temperature sensorutilizing chirped reflectors.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention teach methods for developing setsof individually identifiable SAW sensor tag devices that operate welltogether, incorporating diversity techniques and codes that have goodautocorrelation properties and low cross correlation properties over adesired time range, substantially reducing code collision interferenceproblems.

A first embodiment of the present invention utilizes direct sequencespread spectrum (DSSS) coding combined with both time diversity andfrequency diversity to construct sets of individually identifiablesensors or sensor-tags. DSSS coding is alternatively called BPSK (binaryphase shift keying) or binary sequence coding. In this technique, a codeconsists of N bits, each taking on the value of either +1 or −1. Thetime length of the bit determines the bandwidth (BW) of the code in thefrequency domain (the shorter a bit is in time, the wider the BW andvice versa). The SAW implementation of a DSSS code utilizes at least twoSAW transducers, generally one to generate the DSSS code and anotherthat receives the SAW launched by the DSSS transducer. [Alternateimplementations can utilize one transducer and one or more reflectors.]Of course, being reciprocal devices, the designation of one transduceras an “input” transducer and the second as an “output” transducer isarbitrary, as they are interchangeable. In the simplest form, a DSSScoded SAW device consists of an input transducer containing the DSSScode, and an output transducer that bandlimits the frequency response ofthe DSSS code. The DSSS transducer consists of interdigitated electrodesconnected to one of two bus bars. The specific electrode configurationcan be any of a wide range of known configurations, including non-splitelectrodes, split electrodes, three electrodes per wavelength, SPUDT,and other configurations. One embodiment of the transducer utilizessplit electrodes, wherein two electrodes are connected to bus bar #1,and the next two electrodes are connected to bus bar #2, a pattern thatrepeats for the entire length of one bit. At the end of a bit, thepattern either repeats for another bit, or switches polarity, so thatthe electrodes that were connected to bus bar #1 are now connected tobus bar #2, and vice versa. Continuity of the pattern from bit to bitindicates that the code has sequential bits of the same polarity, whileswitching connections as described indicates that the bit sequence hasundergone a polarity transition, from +1 to −1, or from −1 to +1.Similar polarity changes can be effected in alternate electrode patternsin a similar fashion.

BW limitations from DSSS code: As mentioned previously, the length intime of each bit of the DSSS code determines the null-to-null bandwidthof the code spectrum in the frequency domain. The output transducer inthe SAW device may band-limit the frequency response; if the outputtransducer BW is narrower than the code BW this band-limiting will ineffect change the coding of the device and alter its performance in asystem.

Barker code example: One example is the 13-bit Barker code. There isonly one known Barker code with 13 bits, and it has desirableautocorrelation properties—namely the autocorrelation peak has anamplitude of 13, and the time sidelobes have a magnitude that alternatesbetween 0 and 1, as shown in FIG. 1. Since the sidelobes result from thetime-shifted multiplication and integration of the sequence with itself,the behavior exhibited is the best possible behavior attainable with abiphase modulated signal. Implementation of a Barker code in a SAWdevice, however, is influenced by the characteristics of how the deviceis built. Consider a simple SAW device with a 13-bit Barker coded inputtransducer and an uncoded output transducer that functions as a bandpassfilter to band-limit the frequency response of the Barker code. TheBarker coded transducer will be implemented using bits that are aspecific number of acoustic wavelengths long (at the operating centerfrequency of the device). The longer these bits are in time, thenarrower the frequency response of the Barker code is, and thus the lessit will be band-limited by an output transducer of a set bandwidth. (Bitlength also impacts overall sensor response length, which influencesimplementation of time diversity—more short responses can fit into agiven overall time length). For a set bit length in time, the narrowerthe output transducer in frequency, the more the Barker code spectrum isband-limited, which effectively modifies the code and its correlationproperties. For example, FIG. 2 shows two plots of the idealizedautocorrelation response of a SAW device with an input 13-bit Barkercoded transducer with bits that are 9λ long, and an uncoded outputtransducer. In FIG. 2( a), the output transducer has a wide bandwidth of55.5 MHz, so the spectrum of the Barker code is not band-limited muchand the correlation response is nearly ideal (compare to FIG. 1). InFIG. 2( b), the output transducer is only 15 MHz wide, and as a resultof the band-limiting of the Barker code spectrum, the autocorrelationresponse is severely degraded. Thus, device design requires carefultradeoffs between DSSS code bit length, output transducer bandwidth,overall sensor response time length, and time diversity and frequencydiversity requirements of the system.

The inventors utilized a 13-bit Barker code, with both time diversityand frequency diversity, to implement a set of 100 individuallyidentifiable sensors and sensor-tags. Note that in this case we do notuse the term “individually coded” because the code in each device is thesame. Instead, we utilize the good properties of the autocorrelationfunction of the Barker code to enable time diversity, and use frequencydiversity to augment the set size further. FIG. 3 shows the correlationresponse of this set of sensors. The autocorrelation response 10 of oneselected sensor is shown, along with the cross correlation 12 of thissensor with the other 99 devices in the set.

In order to determine appropriate sensor design guidelines, it isnecessary to consider the system architecture of the wireless readersystem that will be used to interrogate the devices. While embodimentsof the present invention, using both time and frequency diversity inconnection with DSSS codes with specific properties (including Barkercodes and others discussed below), can be used with a range of readertypes, one embodiment for the reader is a correlation-based spreadspectrum differential delay measurement system. In this system, arepetitive broadband noise-like signal (for example a pseudo-noise (PN)code) is transmitted to activate all of the sensors in the field of viewof the reader, and the combined signal reflected from the sensor(s) isreceived by the transceiver. Toggling of the transmit and receivesignals, so that the transmit signal is off when the receiver antenna ison, and vice-versa, is desirable to avoid large crosstalk signals thatwould occur with continuous transmit and receive operation. In additionto being sent to the sensor(s), the transmitted signal is passed througha set of at least two reference filters, designed as matched filters forthe sensor responses. Thus, if the sensor has two acoustic paths atdifferent frequencies, there will be two filters with differentfrequencies in the reference path to correlate with the responses fromthe respective sensor acoustic path. If the sensor devices containcodes, the reference filters will likewise contain the same codes. Anarbitrary number of acoustic tracks can be implemented on the sensor (orsensors), and a matching set of reference path filters will be needed toread and interpret the responses of this set of sensors. The referencefilters can be implemented in hardware or as a software radio, and canbe used to interpret the combined response of a set of wireless sensors,to read and obtain identification and measurement data from each sensor.A software implementation of the reference filter(s) is particularlyadvantageous when time diversity techniques are being used (along withcode and other diversity techniques), as the received composite responsesignal from the set of sensors can be digitized, and then digitally“windowed” in time to compare the responses occurring in selected timeslots (references to the time at which the interrogation signal wastransmitted) with digital representations of each reference matchedfilter. Digitization of the received sensor signal can be performed atRF, or at a lower sampling rate using baseband or near-baseband samplingtechniques. Amplitude levels, and ratios of these levels, from differentacoustic tracks and sensors can be useful in making specificmeasurements, as can other sensor device performance parameters such ascorrelation peak delays, differences between such peaks, along withother system parameters.

This system performs an averaging process over multiple PN codeinterrogation sequences, increasing signal to noise ratio and pullinglow spread spectrum sensor signals out of the system noise. Whenimplemented as a software radio, the received combined signal is sampled(either at RF or using subsampling), accumulated, and then correlatedwith the reference response appropriate for each sensor. Datapost-processing enables extraction of the identification, response, anddistance from the reader of each sensor.

This reader system utilizes the correlation properties of the codes toidentify sensor devices with specific codes, and the time and frequencydiversity as well to identify and read specific sensors. As with anyother wireless SAW sensor system, if the cross correlations of thedesired sensor response with all other sensor responses are zero, therewould be no ambiguity in sensor identification and no effect of codeinteractions on sensor accuracy and calibration. In reality, though, itis not possible to construct codes that have no interaction with eachother, provided the codes operate in the same time and frequency ranges.What is necessary for good system performance is to have codes with goodautocorrelation performance (low sidelobes relative to the peak in theautocorrelation response); and that the cross correlations of eachsensor code with other codes is zero at the peak of the autocorrelationfunction (or the center of the cross correlation responses); andpreferably that the cross correlations of each sensor code with othercodes is zero or very small over the entire main peak of theautocorrelation function, and a small region outside the main peak toallow for variation in time of the different sensor responses in anasynchronous system and changes in response times due to variations insensed parameters. Random placement of sensors will introduce randomtime offsets between the responses due to the RF propagation delay ofthe signals, and changes in sensor temperature and other sensedparameters can also change the RF signal delay.

Gold Codes: One family of conventional binary DSSS codes with good crosscorrelation properties commonly use is the well known “Gold” codefamily. FIG. 4 shows the cross correlations of three 31-bit Gold codesselected for good cross correlation performance. Note that at the peak14 of the autocorrelation of code 31.1, the cross correlation 16 withcode 31.2 has a value of −5 while the cross correlation 18 with code31.3 is 3. This level of cross correlation is large enough that acorrelation-based receiver will exhibit errors of up to 35% or more inthe amplitude of each sensor response due to contributions from theother two sensors. This occurs with only three sensors present, and isclearly an unacceptably large level of error. While data post-processingcan correct for some inter-sensor interference, it is not possible tocorrect for this high level, and thus sensors utilizing these Gold codesare not well suited for use in an asynchronous passive multisensorsystem.

Code Selection for Zero Cross Correlation at the Center of the CrossCorrelation Response: Forcing the cross correlations of two or morecodes to be zero at the center of the cross correlation response can beaccomplished in biphase modulated (BPSK) codes by proper code selection.Computer aided code generation and evaluation algorithms can evaluateall possible binary codes of a given length, first evaluating the codesindividually to select those with good autocorrelation properties, andsubsequently considering the cross correlation performance of allpossible pairs of codes (made up of codes with good autocorrelationperformance) to generate pairs of codes that cross correlation to zeroat the center of the response. Pairs of codes that have crosscorrelation responses that remain low in the region near the center canalso be selected, with the lowest possible response levels being 0alternating with ±1.

With traditional DSSS codes, the signal is a series of bits with valuesof +1 and −1. With two DSSS codes of length N bits, the crosscorrelation function has length (2N−1) bits. The cross correlationcalculation multiplies the response levels of the two codes at each bitand sums these multiplied values (which can also be only +1 or −1). Whentwo different codes of the same length (N) are exactly aligned, the sumof the products of the two codes produces the value of the crosscorrelation at the autocorrelation peak. This can only be zero if N iseven, since this allows for an equal number of +1 and −1 values tocancel. For odd N, the minimum cross correlation value at this centralpoint is 1. Since the autocorrelation peak has size N, the best cross toauto correlation ratio is 1/N for odd N and 0 for even N. Clearly 0provides a lower level of interaction. “Good” codes can be selected forwhich each sequential bit away from the center causes the crosscorrelation to increase or decrease by 1. This produces a branching typestructure, where the best response has 0 at the center, 1 or −1 one bitaway, then 0, then 1 or −1, etc. Thus, ordinary DSSS codes have afundamental limit for the cross correlation function amplitudeproportional to 1/N. If codes can be designed to alternate between +1,0, and −1, the integrated interaction across the main autocorrelationpeak will be zero, reducing the code cross correlation interference.

FIG. 5 shows the correlation responses for three 28-bit binary DSSScodes selected for zero cross correlation at the center 20 and crosscorrelations 22 that stay at or below a magnitude of 1 over two bitintervals on either side of the center. The autocorrelation responsepeak is 24. Proper code selection can also produce BPSK codes thatproduce cross correlations that integrate over a specified timeframe toa value of zero, which can also improve codeset performance. Measurementof this set of three codes in a correlation-based receiver withasynchronous sensor operation results in errors in individual sensorreading of up to 7.5%, a substantial improvement over prior Gold codes,but still not ideal.

Amplitude Weighted Codes: Forcing the cross correlations to be zero ateach time sample over an extended range cannot be accomplished in a BPSKcode. Embodiments of the present invention address this problem byintroducing weighting to the BPSK signal to produce a time domainamplitude modulated BPSK code that can force the code cross correlationfunctions to be zero across the desired time interval. Standard DSSScoded use weights of +1 or −1 for each bit as described above. Amplitudeweighting these bits, i.e. allowing bit values between these limits (inan analog fashion, or in fixed increments of 0.1 or another selectedvalue) provides the flexibility needed to construct codes that producezero cross correlation over the main autocorrelation peak time range,and a prescribed time range outside of this range. These codes will havezero or near zero interactions, allowing use in wireless sensor systemswithout significant interference. Thus, amplitude weighting of the DSSScode to force cross correlations to be zero over a range of timescovering the main autocorrelation response of each sensor, and a smallrange around that region to allow for variations in response withtemperature and with changes in the sensed parameter(s), providessignificant advantages over prior art.

FIG. 6( a) shows a 3-dimensional view of the center 9 bits of the crosscorrelation responses of a set of 4700, 13-bit amplitude weighted spreadspectrum codes. FIG. 6( b) shows a 2-D view of a subset of the data inFIG. 6( a). Note that all cross correlations remain below a value of0.2*13=2.6 over a 9 bit range; selected pairs are significantly lower.FIG. 7 shows the auto and cross correlations of the SAW implementationof two weighted spread spectrum codes designed to have zero crosscorrelations over an extended range around the response center.Measurement of sensors incorporating these codes using a correlationbased receiver exhibits reduced errors that are roughly an order ofmagnitude lower than for binary DSSS codes with zero cross correlationat the center of the response.

Chirped SAW elements: In addition to the coding techniques and otherdiversity techniques described above, embodiments of the invention alsoincorporate the use of chirp SAW elements with different chirp slopes asan added dimension of diversity. While chirp slope has previously beenused to identify individual sensors, it has not previously been combinedwith the other diversity techniques as in embodiments of the presentinvention. A group of 32 individually identifiable sensors was developedusing a combination of time diversity, frequency diversity, and twodistinct (and opposite) chirp slopes.

Fractal-like Code Construction: Another embodiment of the presentinvention involves construction of a set of preferred codes using aprocess whereby codes, a “primary” code and a set of “secondary” codes,are used to construct a set of codes with improved cross correlationperformance. The primary code is selected to have desirableautocorrelation properties. A set of secondary codes is selected thathas desirable cross correlation properties, generally including havingzero cross correlation at the center of the response, and preferablyover a small time range about the center point. To construct each“fractal” code, the primary code is concatenated with itself a number oftimes equal to the number of bits in the secondary code, with eachrepetition of the primary code amplitude weighted based on the amplitudeof the corresponding secondary code bit. FIG. 8 shows the crosscorrelation responses of a set of four 5-bit amplitude weighted spreadspectrum codes with zero cross correlation at the center, which will beutilized as the secondary codes for fractal code formation. Each plotshows the autocorrelation of one code, and the cross correlation of thatcode with the other three codes in the set. Note that while the crosscorrelation responses are zero at the center point, the crosscorrelation performance away from the center is not particularlyoutstanding.

The 5-bit barker code [1 1 1 -1 1] exhibits a mathematicalautocorrelation of [1 0 1 0 5 0 1 0 1], which is good autocorrelationperformance. Since the secondary code used governs the amplitude of therepeated primary code, it is important to use a set of secondary codeswith good cross correlation properties, with a primary with goodautocorrelation. By way of example, if the set of four code with crosscorrelation performance shown in FIG. 8 were used to fractal into a5-bit Barker code, the cross correlations of the resulting set of fourcodes would be that shown in FIG. 9. Note that for the resulting set ofcodes, the cross correlations of code 1 with codes 2, 3, and 4 havepeaks nearly as large as the autocorrelation peak for code 1 and locatedvery close in time to said autocorrelation peak. Thus, this set ofsensors would exhibit very poor performance when used together in amultisensor system. However, if the four codes from FIG. 8 are insteadused as secondary codes, with the 5-bit Barker used as a primary code,the resulting codes have cross correlation performance shown in FIG. 10.Note that the largest cross correlation peaks have now been shifted outin time, 5 bit lengths away from the autocorrelation peak. This set ofcodes would have significantly improved performance over those of FIG.9.

This process of constructing codes in a “fractal” manner can be repeatedmore than once, and can be performed using binary or amplitude weightedspread spectrum codes, or a combination of the two. FIG. 11 shows theauto and cross correlation performance of a set of four codes formed byusing a 5-bit Barker code as a primary code and an amplitude weightedset of four 5-bit codes that has been refined to produce zero crosscorrelation over a small region near the center of the response. Notethat the cross correlation of this set of four 5-bit fractal codes isnow identically zero over a broad, 9-bit wide region across the centerof the response. This set of codes exhibits superior code collisionavoidance, even when used in sensors subject to widely varyingenvironmental conditions and placed at random RF delays (within a broadrange). This is one key improvement of embodiments of the presentinvention over prior art. The process of fractal code construction canbe repeated to produce longer codes that also exhibit outstandingperformance. Another embodiment of the present fractal code invention isprovided in FIG. 12, which shows the autocorrelation of one 125-bit codeand the cross correlation between that code and three others, when allfour codes were produced by fractal repeating (in a weighted fashion) a5-bit Barker code (primary) into the four 25-bit codes corresponding tothe correlation performance shown in FIG. 11. This set of codes has zerocross correlation over a 50-bit wide range around the center! Thisoutstanding performance can also be achieved for short codes, oneexample of which is provided in FIG. 13. This shows the crosscorrelation of two 20-bit codes, produced by fractal code composition,that have zero cross correlation over the center 17 bits of the 39-bitlong cross correlation response! Such exceptional performance canproduce sets of codes that operate well in asynchronous CDMA systems,and require only minimal data post-processing to accurately extractsensor identification, measurement(s), and distance from the wirelessreader for a set of sensors at random locations and subject to randomenvironmental conditions or measurands (temperature, etc.). Theinventors have used the advanced coding techniques taught herein, incombination with time and frequency diversity, to implement a set of 32individually identifiable temperature sensors, and larger sets arepossible. Codes can be constructed that are symmetric in time, allowingconvenient implementation in SAW reflector structures.

The application of the code construction techniques taught herein hasfocused on producing coded SAW devices with desirable performance.However, the utility of these codes would extend to any multi-usercommunication system that would benefit from improved code independenceand reduction in code collision. CDMA wireless communication systems,digital and analog and mixed signal, radar, and other applications couldpotentially benefit from application of the techniques of embodiments ofthe present invention. The focus on SAW implementations of these codesis not intended to be restrictive, as other applications would benefitfrom these techniques as well.

Physical embodiments of DSSS coded SAW devices: Practical implementationof DSSS codes in SAW devices places constraints on device design. For agiven piezoelectric substrate, the number of electrodes that can be usedin a standard, in-line transducer is limited by practicalconsiderations. For example, for YZ lithium niobate, transducers thatexceed 150 wavelengths long can suffer from multiple reflections—wherethe acoustic wave launched at the beginning of the transducer isreflected from electrodes further on in the transducer, introducinginterfering signals. This condition is commonly referred to as“overcoupling”.

To avoid overcoupling, designers maintain transducer lengths undercertain guidelines. For DSSS codes, this sets a limit on the number ofbits and bit length combination that can be implemented in a singleacoustic track. For instance, again on YZ lithium niobate, a 16-bit codecan only have about 9X/bit, while a 28-bit code can only have about5λ/bit to remain within design guidelines. However, these constraintshave implications on the bandwidths that can be quite restrictive, sincethe shorter the code bits the wider the code spectrum. Use of longerbits to produce narrower code spectra is beneficial for system reasons(antenna efficiency and increased frequency diversity), but is normallyprecluded by the excessive length of in-line transducers as bit lengthincreases. For example, a code with 5λ/bit at 250 MHz would have a BW of100 MHZ.

Embodiments of the present invention improve over prior art by utilizingslanted, tapered, or stepped tapered transducer structures to implementDSSS codes with long bits by distributing the bits laterally acrossmultiple parallel acoustic tracks on the sensor device. For example, a28-bit DSSS code with 5λ/bit at 250 MHz would be 140λ long with a BW of100 MHz. Increasing bit length to 20X/bit would reduce the BW to 25 MHz,but would increase transducer length to 560λ—far too long to implementin-line. Breaking the coded into four channels, each with 7 bits,produces acoustic tracks with 140λ long transducers, but maintains thereduced BW of 25 MHz.

A sample of some of these device embodiments is shown in the attachedsketches. This set is illustrative in nature, and is by no meansexhaustive.

FIG. 14 shows one embodiment of the present invention. Device 200comprises a a piezoelectric substrate (also called a die) on which areformed at least two SAW elements, at least one of which is a transducer.In FIG. 14, the left SAW element 202 is a transducer, which serves toreceive an exciting signal from an input/output antenna that is notshown. Alternatively, these devices can operated in a wiredconfiguration without an antenna. Transducer 202 converts the inputelectrical signal into a surface acoustic wave signal, that propagatesoutward to the right (at a minimum) in three acoustic tracks 206, 208,and 210 along the surface of the die. The acoustic wave is received bythe corresponding sub-transducers of SAW transducer 204. This generatesan output response, which can be reflected back to the transceiverwirelessly through an antenna, or in wired form. The two transducers 202and 204 can be fed in parallel through a single antenna or wiredconnection. Transducer 202 is constructed to keep the number ofelectrodes in each individual acoustic channel under the maximum limitappropriate for the piezoelectric substrate of interest to avoidovercoupling. Each track of transducer 202 contains multiple spreadspectrum code bits 212, each of which is shown with a “+” or “−” in FIG.14. The bits shown in this example are equal amplitude, as shown by theuniform overlap of electrodes for all bits. Amplitude weighted codes, bycomparison, could be implemented using unequal electrode overlap lengths(apodization), or using other weighting methods such as withdrawalweighting or electrode width weighting, among others.

FIG. 15 illustrates that embodiments similar to that in FIG. 14 can beextended to include as many acoustic tracks as needed to implementlonger codes, to avoid overcoupling. Device 300 in this example includesa number (>3) of acoustic tracks 306, 308, . . . , 310, each containinga portion of the spread spectrum code bits 312 in transducer 302, and areceiving transducer segment in output transducer 304. As mentionedpreviously, this device can be interrogated wirelessly using one or twoantennas, or can be measured in a wired format.

FIG. 16 shows an embodiment where device 400 includes slanted transducer402, conventional transducer 404 (which is shown as a wide aperturetransducer in this example), and four acoustic tracks 406, 408, 410, and412. In this example, only one bit of the spread spectrum code is shownin each track of transducer 402, although more can be included. Twosurface treatments 414 and 416 are shown, which can be chemicallysensitive films (for use in chemical sensors), biological moieties (forbiosensors), or other treatments that will implement the desired sensorfunction in those tracks.

FIG. 17 illustrates schematically an amplitude weighted spread spectrumcoded device 500 that includes a traditional uncoded transducer 502 andan amplitude weighted spread spectrum coded transducer 504. The codedtransducer 504 includes a number “k” of code bits, each of which isamplitude weighted by a weighting factor, indicated by W₁ through W_(k)in FIG. 17. This figure illustrates a coded transducer embodiment thatutilizes a single acoustic track, but extension of this concept toproduce amplitude weighted coded transducers spanning multiple acoustictracks is also within the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 18 illustrates schematically a set 600 of N spread spectrum codeddevices 602, 604, through 606 utilizing time diversity. As can be seenfrom the coded transducers 608 in FIG. 18, the operating frequency andspread spectrum codes utilized in each device in the set are the same.Output transducers 610 are illustrated as being the same SAW elements ineach device (602 through 606), with the output transducer on each devicebeing located within one of a set of specified time slots τ₁ throughτ_(N), indicated by 612, 614 through 616 in FIG. 18. A system readingthis set of sensors can identify which device is responding bydetermining which time slot the detected correlation peak occurs within.This schematic illustration, as is the case for all of the illustrationsof diversity techniques herein, shows just one acoustic track, and asabove can be extended to multiple acoustic paths. Also, for all of theillustrative embodiments shown, practical sensors utilizing thistechnique would generally have more than one response combined to make ameasurement (at least one reference response and at least one sensingresponse). Thus a practical device would normally include at least twosets of the SAW elements illustrated in FIG. 18 (or the otherillustrations shown), or some combination thereof.

FIG. 19 illustrates schematically a set 700 of spread spectrum codeddevices 702, 704 through 706, utilizing frequency diversity. As can beseen from the coded transducers 708 in FIG. 19, the spread spectrumcodes utilized in each device in the set are the same (there is no codediversity). As in other illustrative examples, the specific code shownis for convenience of schematic representation only, and has nosignificance. As and additional diversity technique, the operatingfrequency of each of the transducers varies for each device, indicatedin FIG. 19 by the variation in electrode spacing for the transducers indevice 702 as compared to device 704 or device 706, or others in theset. Output transducers 710 are illustrated as being the same SAWelements in each device (702 through 706), adjusted to operate at thefrequency of the input transducer, with the output transducer on eachdevice being located within the same specified time slots (selected fromthe set of possible time slots τ₁ througn τ_(N)), with the selecteddelay indicated by τ in FIG. 19.

FIG. 20 illustrates schematically a set 800 of spread spectrum codeddevices 802, 804 through 806, utilizing both time and frequencydiversity. On each device, the possible time slots for the outputtransducer positioning are shown with dashed rectangles, each of whichis labeled with the acoustic delay corresponding to the center of thattime slot (τ1 through τ_(N)). Time diversity if implemented by placingthe output transducer in one of the time slots for each device, so thatfor a given operating frequency there can be N devices with differenttime delays operable. The first time slot is indicated by 814, while thelast time slot is 816. Frequency diversity is implemented by includingdevices operating at M different frequencies (f₁ through f_(M)) withinthe same set. In FIG. 20, device 802 has coded transducer 808 operatingat frequency f₁, with a matched frequency output transducer. Similarly,device 804 has coded transducer 810 operating at frequency f₂, anddevice 806 has coded transducer 812 operating at frequency f_(M). Foreach operating frequency (f₁ through f_(M)), distinct devices can beconstructed with output transducers in up to N time slots, producing aset of M×N distinct devices. As previously mentioned, functional sensordevices often operate in a differential manner, and sets of two or moredistinguishable responses can be combined within the same sensor (on oneor more substrates) to implement various sensor and tag devices.

FIG. 21 illustrates schematically a set 900 of spread spectrum codeddevices 902 through 904 through 906 through 908 utilizing codediversity, time diversity, and frequency diversity. A set of J codes(codes 1 through J), are combined with a set of M operating frequencies(f₁ through f_(M)), and with a set of N time delays (τ₁ through τ_(N)),producing a set of up to J*M*N possible individually identifiable deviceresponses. Note that the time slots are aligned between devices, asindicated in slot a (918) and slot N (920). As previously, these may beused individually or together in sets to effect desired sensing andidentification functions. By way of illustration, in FIG. 21 transducer910 utilizes code 1 at frequency f₁, with the output transducer in timeslot N. Transducer 912 utilizes code 1 at frequency f_(M), with theoutput transducer in time slot 2. Transducer 914 utilizes code J atfrequency f₁, with the output transducer in time slot 1. Transducer 916utilizes code J at frequency f_(M), with the output transducer in timeslot 3. Since the set of possible combinations is large, only fourdevices are shown in FIG. 21 by way of example.

FIGS. 22 and 23 show yet another diversity technique that can beincorporated with time diversity and frequency diversity, specificallychirp slope diversity. Chirp slope diversity takes the place of codediversity, producing sets of individually identifiable devices of sizeequal to (# of time slots)*(number of frequency bands)*(number ofdifferent chirp slopes).

FIG. 22 shows a simple differential reflective delay line temperaturesensor 1000 embodiment utilizing chirped input transducers 1004 andreflective multistrip couplers (RMSC) 1002. The time different ATbetween the RMSC reflectors is doubled due to the reflective deviceoperation, and provides for a sensitive temperature sensor response.Device 1000 has two input/output chirped transducers 1004, each of whichhas a varying frequency across the time length of the transducer. Alinear upchirp (going from low to high frequency from left to right) isshown for simplicity, although different nonlinear chirps can be used,and both up and down chirps are useful). The input transducer chirpslope is (f_(high)−f_(low))/(transducer length in time). The reflectedresponses from the RMSCs are further spread by the chirp transducers,and the spread spectrum response can be de-chirped in the receiver usingthe appropriate chirp (with a chirp sense that is the opposite of thatintroduced by the sensor). Although not shown, this technique can becombined with time and frequency diversity as mentioned, to producelarger sets of individually identifiable devices.

FIG. 23 shows yet another embodiment of a reflective differential delayline chirped temperature sensor 1100. In this embodiment, the RMSCs ofFIG. 22 have been replaced with chirped SAW reflectors 1102. Thesereflectors 1102 are half the time length of the chirp transducers 1104,have the same chirp sense (up or down), and have the same chirpbandwidth. Hence the chirp slope of the reflectors is twice that of thetransducers. For a given die length, this embodiment may allowrealization of a greater time bandwidth product (BT), resulting ingreater processing gain for the sensors. The larger the time delaybetween reflected responses Δτ, the greater the temperature sensitivityof the device. If time diversity is being utilized in connection withthis embodiment, care must be taken to ensure that the separation Δτ isselected so that resulting reflections occur within desired time slotsover the operating range of the device. Of course, different types ofreflectors or output transducers can be utilized other than thoseillustrated herein without deviating from the intent of the presentinvention.

The illustrations included herein are exemplary in nature, and do notencompass all aspects of the present invention. One skilled in the artwould recognize that the improvements provided by embodiments of thisinvention can be implemented using any of a wide range of knownelectrode structures, including but not limited to split electrodes,non-split electrodes, three electrodes per wavelength, and SPUDTstructures. Symmetric codes can be implemented using reflectorstructures. The use of chirp transducers with varying chirp slopes isalso within the scope of embodiments of the present invention. It shouldbe noted that the one-sided layout of the devices in FIG. 3 couldequally well be implemented using a two-sided die, with reflectors oroutput transducers on one side of the input/output transducer.Performance of such two sided devices would clearly be affected by thetime orientation of the spread spectrum code.

One skilled in the art will recognize that there are a wide range ofdevice embodiments that can be used to implement sensor, tag, and sensortag devices according to embodiments of the present invention. All ofthe devices described and/or illustrated can be implemented insingle-track formats, or in multiple acoustic track formats. They can beprovided with electrical shorting pads in the deposition region(s) orportions thereof and/or the reference acoustic path(s) or portionsthereof, if beneficial for the desired application (to separate theelectrical effects of the deposited film from the mass loading andviscoelastic properties). Inclusion of a temperature sensor deviceallows extraction of the effects of temperature, which can be done usingthe delay of the integral reference peak(s), or with separatetemperature sensing elements as discussed above. Inclusion of multipledifferential delay lines, preferably operable in different frequencyranges, with different coating treatments allows separation ofconductive effects from those involving mass loading andviscoelasticity.

The transducers and/or reflectors described thus far are allnon-dispersive, and similar embodiments could be envisioned that utilizetransducers that are tapered, slanted, stepped tapered, apodized,withdrawal weighted, EWC, UDT, SPUDT, dispersive, and/or waveguidestructures. Even a reflective array compressor structure could be usedto implement such a deposition monitor, although such a device structurewould be unnecessarily complex for most applications. All of thesetechniques could also be used incorporating dispersive and harmonictechniques.

Also, one skilled in the art will recognize that these devices can beimplemented on various substrate materials, and can utilize variousacoustic wave propagation modes, in order to achieve performancerequired for specific applications. Performance to measure deposition ofor interaction with vapors, liquids, polymers, solids, and numerousother quantities can be achieved. Operation at high temperatures can beaccomplished using langasite, langanite, of langatate, or othersubstrate capable of operating at high temperatures. In order to measureconductive films, a substrate with high electromechanical couplingcoefficient may be used. Electrodes and busbars of SAW elements can bemade from materials appropriate to survive the application environment,including the ability to withstand high or low temperatures, andchemical environments.

The broad nature of the embodiments described here are clear, and oneskilled in the art will understand that there is a wide variety ofdevice configurations that can be generated using combinations of one ormore of the techniques discussed. The embodiments of the inventionsdescribed herein and illustrated in the figures provide deviceembodiments capable of monitoring deposition of a wide range ofmaterials, including but not limited to ultrathin films andnanomaterials. While some preferred forms and embodiments of theinvention have been illustrated and described, it will be apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and modificationmay be made without deviating from the inventive concepts set forthabove.

Embodiments of the present invention have been described in relation toparticular examples, which are intended in all respects to beillustrative rather than restrictive. Those skilled in the art willappreciate that many different combinations of materials and componentswill be suitable for practicing the disclosed embodiments of the presentinvention.

Other implementations of the invention will be apparent to those skilledin the art from consideration of the specification and practice of theinvention disclosed herein. Various aspects and/or components of thedescribed embodiments may be used singly or in any combination. It isintended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplaryonly, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated bythe following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for constructing sets of codes thatinteract minimally comprising: a. Evaluating the autocorrelationproperties of binary codes of a specified length, and retaining thosecodes with desirable autocorrelation properties; b. Evaluating the crosscorrelation of retained codes in a pairwise fashion, and retaining thosecode pairs that have zero cross correlation in the center of theresponse; c. Constructing larger sets of codes that cross correlate wellfrom the code pairs generated.
 2. A method for constructing sets ofcodes that interact minimally comprising: a. Generation of preliminarysets of binary codes that cross correlate to zero or near zero at thecenter of the response; b. Amplitude weighting bits in each code tomodify the cross correlations of the set of codes to produce zero crosscorrelation over the time range of interest around the center of theresponse.
 3. A method for constructing sets of codes that interactminimally comprising: a. Selecting at least one first code with goodautocorrelation properties b. Selecting a set of at least two secondcodes with zero cross correlation at one or more point near the centerof the cross correlation response c. Refining said set of second codesto have zero cross correlation over a wider time range by amplitudeweighting the bits of said codes; and d. Constructing a new set ofcomposite codes by multiplying said first code by the amplitude of eachbit of one of said set of second codes sequentially and concatenatingthe resulting bits to form one code in said new set, and repeating thisprocess for each code in said set of second codes.
 4. A method forconstructing sets of codes that interact minimally comprising: a. Themethod of claim 3, wherein said set of at least two second codesincorporate amplitude weighting of the bits to reduce cross correlationresponse amplitudes at and around the center of the response.
 5. Asurface acoustic sensor tag device, comprising (a) a piezoelectricsubstrate; (b) at least one first transducer arranged on at least aportion of said piezoelectric substrate wherein said first transducerhas electrode structures to implement bits of a spread spectrum code;(c) wherein said first transducer is implemented with multiple parallelacoustic tracks; and (d) at least one second surface acoustic waveelement formed on said piezoelectric substrate and spaced from saidfirst transducer along the direction of acoustic wave propagation.
 6. Aset of surface acoustic sensor tag devices incorporating at least oneDSSS code along with frequency diversity and time diversity forindividual device identification.
 7. A set of surface acoustic sensortag devices incorporating SAW elements containing one of at least atleast two chirp slopes, along with frequency diversity and timediversity for individual device identification.